A 13-year-old English boy finds a small Lego octopus that has been adrift for 27 years

An octopus washed up on an English beach. So far, nothing unusual. But when the octopus is a Lego, the discovery can turn into an incredible event. Liutauras Cemolonskas, 13, knows this well. This fan of small plastic bricks had been looking for this octopus for several years, as noted by the British daily The Guardian.

However, the quest began well before the birth of the young Englishman. In 1997, a cargo ship was caught in a violent storm in the Celtic Sea. A wave higher than the others causes several containers to capsize overboard. One of them is carrying five million Legos of all kinds. 352,000 pairs of fins, 97,500 diving tanks and 92,400 swords drift and wash up on the coast of English Cornwall.

Since then, enthusiasts have tried to replenish the collection by strolling on the beaches, their eyes fixed on the sand. Before his find, Liutauras Cemolonskas had 789 pieces. But this octopus is by far the rarest figurine in his collection. Only 4,200 examples fell into the waves of the Celtic Sea.

The young Englishman's discovery highlights the Lego Lost at Sea project, launched by Tracey Williams. This British writer was the first to take an interest in these pieces washed up after the storm. “I found an octopus in 1997 and I didn’t find another for 18 years,” she declared in the columns of the British daily after the discovery of Liutauras Cemolonskas.

Beyond the collections, Tracey Williams is taking advantage of this project to raise awareness about plastic pollution in the oceans. The European Parliament says that each year, between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes of plastic end up in the oceans. Even more worrying, according to estimates from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the oceans could contain more plastic than fish by 2050.